A Light in the Dark
by Rikuseroth
Summary: When a wielder of light is on the team, his world goes from good, to bad, to complicated. He goes from a lively future to a doomed past. A collaboration with itsasuperherothing.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: Hey, there. This is Riku. I'd like to present the first chapter of my first collaboration with the amazing writer, itsasuperherothing. Together, we present to you, a new story. **  
**We unfortunately do not own Young Justice, or any of its heroes or villains. We only own our 16 ocs. I own Zack Jordan. itsasuperherothing owns Allison Troy, WonderGirl. **

* * *

After the threat of the Reach, Earth had a brief period of serenity. As brief as it was, it was nice, nevertheless. It gave the heroes of Young Justice a chance to relax, and allowed for the Justice League to fix the damages brought on by the Reach.

Soon afterwards, a new threat arose. This threat brought a curtain of darkness upon the Earth as Darkseid descended upon the planet with his army. Both Young Justice and the Justice League were quick to act. Both teams suffered losses. The Young Justice team lost Cassie, who was better known as Wonder Girl, and they also lost Lagoon Boy. The Justice League lost Black Lightning, Atom, and Captain Atom. Along with this, Wally came back from his imprisonment in the Speedforce, but at the cost of Barry Allen, the Flash. Both teams spent a short time mourning before going back into their daily routines of protecting the world.

Since then, the team has gained new members, and other senior members had joined the Justice League.

The only adult overseers in the team at the moment are M'gann, Conner, Bart, and Tim; Miss Martian, SuperBoy, Impulse, and RedRobin. RedRobin and SuperBoy take charge in combat training, while Miss Martian handles teamwork training. Cooperative movements and attack strategies ensure success and safety. Impulse handles situational readiness, readying them for whatever obstacles they may face on missions.

Most everyone in the Young Justice Team knows each others identities because most they all grew up together. The team consists of the children of members of Young Justice, as well as some children of the Justice League members. The Team consists of 20 members, and it is is divided into teams of four. There are five different squads.

Alpa consists of Talon(Peter Grayson), Hawkboy(Kenneth "Ken" Hol), Equinox(Tobias "Toby" West), and Dove(Jennifer Lance).

Beta has Swift(Lorelei "Lori" Allen), Superboy(Conner "Con-El" Kent), Shade(Mason Harper), and Rocket(Hayley Irwin).

Gamma contains Red Robin(Timothy "Tim" Drake), Rapid(Benjamin "Ben" Allen), Feral(Jake Logan), and Green Lantern(Zack Jordan)

Delta consists of Impulse(Bart Allen), Wonder Girl(Allison "Alli" Troy), Bumblebee(Riley Duncan), and Martian Girl(K'ya Kent).

Epsilon has in its ranks Miss Martian(M'gann Kent), Aqualad(Logan Hyde), Guardian(Miles Duncan), and Blue Beetle(Maria Reyes).

This is the current team of the time 2023. Now, enough explanations and catching up. Here's where we start our story.

"B23, Green Lantern. B05, Green Lantern"An announcement from the zeta tubes sounded. Everyone looked over to see Zack and Hal enter through the zeta tubes.

It was combat training day for The Team, while the Justice League was to have a meeting.

"Gotta go"Hal told his son as he flew to the meeting. Zack nodded and walked down to the training room. Zack sighed as he neared the entrance. He resented combat training, although he knew its importance. Zack entered to see Shade and Talon taking on Superboy and Red Robin, with everyone standing around them in a circle, watching. Shade and Talon were best friends, and were by far the best duo out of everyone on the team. Their synchronization was uncanny. Superboy and RedRobin had to stay on their toes. Shade was fighting RedRobin, while Talon got Superboy.

Zack went into the circle, he chose to fly above those that made up the circle, for a better view. None of them were using powers or magic or gadgets; just their bodies. When it looked like Red Robin would get the best of Shade, Talon would be there to block it. It was the same when Talon was in trouble. Shade would have his back. It almost seemed like the two of them would get the better of their combat instructors, but their loss was imminent. Superboy caught Shade off guard with an elbow to the side. The same happened between Talon and RedRobin, but with a knee to the chest.

"Now, we'd like each of you to choose a sparring partner, in order to train each other."Red Robin suggested as SuperBoy helped up Talon and Shade.

Everyone began pairing off. Zack looked around to see who was left. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, wanna partner up, Zack?"

Zack looked behind him to see his best friend on the Team, Wonder Girl. Zack gave her a smile.

"Sure, but go easy on me," He joked

The two sparred. Going from land, to the air. They were both skilled, nearly evenly matched. But Allison had the upper hand, due to her increased strength and agility.

Allison and Zack had known each other for quite some time. They first met 4 years ago. They were new to the team. Since then, they've become great friends. Their friendship has gone a long way.

An hour had passed since training began. Since then, Zack has beaten Allison two time,s while she beat him four. Mostly everyone was tired, except for the various speedsters on the team. They were as lively as always.

"Good sparring, Alli," Zack told his friend, who he had bested in combat on their last round.

Just as Allison was about to reply, Nightwing ran in.

"We've got a mission for you all."

There were various groans; disappointed they'd have a mission on the one day the do combat training. Zack was one of these that groaned.

Nightwing brought up a holo computer on his gauntlet, and then a hologram appeared in the middle of the room. It had the a face with a terrifying grin that sent chills down your spine. It was of the Joker.

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**End Notes: And that's that, for the first chapter. Just wanted to show the team, and have a spotlight on Zack Jordan, my own personal oc, and character in DCUO. Light powers for the win! Anyways, itsasuperherothing, otherwise known as Gadget, is my partner in crime for this fic, and will be writing the next chapter. And with that, a bid you all adieu.**


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys~ Gadget here. Sorry for the so-very-late update- technological probs. So Riku suggested that I choose a character to help with perspective, and I decided on Wonder Girl. Though don't confuse the main characters between me and his OC, Zack. Zack is the main character of the story. Anyway~ hope you like my chapter, enjoy!

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Nightwing brought down the hologram quickly; everyone had seen enough. Just the bio picture was enough to get everyone on edge.

"He's controlling the underground water supply all throughout Gotham. If he succeeds to contaminate it with his venom, every faucet in Gotham will be pouring lethal laughing H2O. He's got it stored somewhere in the water supply network. I want Delta and Beta working together to find that venom. Shade will lead Beta and Bumblebee will lead Delta. Disconnect the machine _without_ setting it off, and bring down any henchmen that might be there."

Alli couldn't help but grin. It was nice to work with her fellow girls, Riley and K'ya (and as far as Alli was concerned, Bart counted as a girl too), but it was also nice to work branch out of the group sometimes. Everything would be even better if Zack was on Beta, though.

"Alpha and Gamma will be working together to locate the Joker and bring him down _without letting_ him set off the machine. Dove leads Alpha and Green Lantern leads Gamma." Nightwing continued.

It was a known fact that the top of the top on the team was the Alpha squad, though the rest of the groups didn't have much of an order. It made sense, too, because they were _alpha_. Dove or Talon were usually the leaders on their squad.

Zack shifted a bit and Alli put her hand on his shoulder. She knew he didn't fancy being leader very much. He was a good leader, for sure, but he had always been someone who didn't need to be the center of attention to be content.

"Lastly, I want Epsilon watching out to make sure Joker doesn't have any more tricks up his sleeves." He looked around, and everyone nodded. "Suit up."

Within minutes, everyone was in costume and ready for the mission. Delta and Beta boarded K'ya's Bioship (seemingly _every_ Martian has one) while Alpha and Gamma boarded a Justice-League-lent Javelin. Epsilon was going to split up within Gotham, so they used the Zeta Beams.

"I'm going to put up a mental link within everyone so we can communicate." K'ya announced. Everyone on Delta nodded, as they were used to this, but some on Beta grimaced.

Wonder Girl elbowed Swift. "Like you've got anything to hide." she said jokingly.

Swift shrugged and grinned mischievously. "You might be surprised then."

The ride from Happy Harbor to Gotham is relatively quick, and soon everyone was unboarding the camouflaged ship.

_Delta- be careful going down. There's bound to be some sort of protection of the venom down there, so keep your eyes out for anyone or anything suspicious. __Do not engage_ _if you do find anything so. Contact everyone if you've found the venom. _Bumblebee instructed.

_Same thing goes for you Beta. This should be a __covert_ _mission on our part. Be careful, quiet, and productive. _Shade finished.

Delta and Beta carefully went down the entrance. It was dim inside, and there was a maze of huge pipes blocking full view of the waterways. Everyone split up at the bottom, each trying to locate the devices.

* * *

Riley shrunk down to her Bumblebee size, making it easier to navigate around the huge, dripping tubes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something. Riley flew over to it, inspecting it. She looked around for anyone nearby to her and spotted Swift. Zooming up to her, she tapped her shoulder.

"Oh, hey Bumblebee, you scared me. What's up?" She asked quietly, swiveling around.

"Come here, I found something weird." She responded.

Bumblebee lead her to the object. Swift picked it up. It was a small handheld device. "I think it's some kind of a transmitter, but I don't know what it's for." Bumblebee explained.

Swift looked it over. The mechanism was familiar. She widened her eyes "It looks like a motion dispatcher. And a good one, at that. It must have picked up us walking around from only getting in here."

Bumblebee nodded. "We'd better inform the others."

* * *

Wonder Girl searched around on each pipe, looking for _anything_ out of the ordinary. Suddenly something dropped next to her, and she jumped, then rolled her eyes.

"You're worse than Talon." She mumbled, not bothering to turn around, continuing to search. Peter was always sneaking up on everyone. Their parents had always been friends, and for as long as she could remember he had a horrible habit of popping up unwanted without announcing himself.

"I take that as a compliment." Shade said, shrugging. Peter and Mason were always fighting to see who was better. It came along with the "best friends" term. "Found anything yet?" he continued.

Wonder Girl resisted the urge to roll her eyes again. "That's totally why I'm still searching."

Shade pulled out something from his belt. "I found something."

Wonder Girl inspected it. It was a broken lock. "What do you think it was for?" she asked.

"Probably-"

_Bumblebee to Shade. Swift and I have found a silent motion sensor, and it's definitely gone off already. They know we're here._

Shade put the lock back in his belt. _We need to be quick, then. I'm guessing we have 10 minutes, more or less. Don't use the comm link, because there's a chance we'll alert them more. _

_If the motion sensor's already gone off, it'll probably be quicker. _Impulse added.

_We can take them. _Superboy supplied.

_We'd better get to work anyways. _Rocket joined, and everyone agreed.

Without warning, there were two sudden thuds, and Wonder Girl and Shade circled around quickly.

* * *

Red Robin looked up from his wrist computers, turning them off. "He should be in his building." He said, pointing to an abandoned looking building in front of them.

Green Lantern nodded. "I want a few of you to stay outside and scout out." Dove instructed. "This obviously isn't going to be as simple as it looks. Equinox, you're on door duty." She looked at Green Lantern expectantly.

"Feral, you should do the same." He said, picking up quickly. Both nodded.

"As for the rest of you, be on alert. We don't know what could be down there." Dove finished, tugging open the door.

It came free with a loud, eerie creak, and they stepped into the darkness within.

* * *

Not a completely terrible cliff hanger. Hope you guys liked it, see you chapter 4!


	3. Chapter 3

Green Lantern despaired being leader of Gamma for this mission, unsure of his decisions were the right ones. Regardless, he knew that his actions meant the lives of his squad and Dove's squad. In the endeavor to preserve the lives of everyone, he hesitantly, but confidently lead his two other squad members inside the building.

Dove kept ahead, on point, using Green Lantern's light to see ahead of them. Green Lantern stayed right behind her, followed by HawkBoy, Red Robin, Rapid, with Talon kept in the back, making sure they aren't ambushed from behind. They ventured through the building, the darkness in every corridor. They proceeded with caution, until they found that there were stairs up, and stairs down.

* * *

The two thuds heard by Shade and WonderGirl was two weird looking robots.

"Well, this could be fun," Shade said with a smirk as he charged towards one of the drones.

* * *

In the building, Gamma and Alpha decided to split up. Dove lead Alpha upstairs, while Green Lantern led Gamma downstairs.

Green Lantern kept the light from his ring dim, making it just bright enough to be able to see directly ahead of them. The three members of Gamma slowly, and carefully walked down the stairs, keeping an eye out for anything and everything. Rapid and Red Robin kept close behind Green Lantern, but kept a bit of distance between each other. They came across a room with light. Inside, they could see several men with clown masks. Red Robin immediately counted 4. The men were talking with someone else, about something they couldn't quite hear yet. Red Robin picked up a familiar voice; one he hated more than anything.

"So they've tripped the motion sensors, eh?" The voice of the Joker asked.  
"Yea, and now all the bots should be activating now," one three goons there with him said.  
"Lovely. Who tripped it?" The clown asked.  
"It was that Wonder Girl brat and that Shade kid" a different goon answered  
"Well, let's hope the bots don't kill them, otherwise we won't be able to test things on them," The Joker said with a wicked grin.

Something inside Green Lantern just seemed to activate as the words registered in his mind. Wonder Girl was his best friend, the person he was closest to. He didn't want to lose her to a madman. He made a slight movement and a stair creaked.

"Why don't we greet our young friends that have been kind enough to pay us a visit?"Joker asked his men, looking towards the stairs. "So, just come down, otherwise we'll release the Joker Toxin right now, instead of when we had originally planned." Green Lantern went down first, followed by Rapid, and lastly Red Robin. "So, let's see here. We've got one from the alien police, a speedster, and one the Bat's birds. What a lucky day me! Now kill them"  
With that, the goons ran at the young heroes. Red Robin sidestepped them, going straight for Joker. Green Lantern used his ring to construct gauntlets. He then fought two of the goons, while Rapid took on the one left out. Green Lantern's punches were doubled in power with the light construct gauntlets he used. He punched one of the goons in the jaw, knocking him out. The other pulled a gun on him. Green Lantern countered that with a blast from his ring, shooting the guy in the hand, and making the gun be dropped, before hitting him with a light construct, sending him into a wall, and knocking him out. Rapid sped around his foe. The man tried to hit him, but was obviously too slow. Rapid would run around him, hitting him from all directions. This made the man so irritated and frustrated, that he just threw punches randomly. Rapid waited till the perfect opportunity and gave the man a mean uppercut, knocking him out. Red Robin was fighting Joker. The clown was still quite skilled in combat, despite his growing age, and insanity. Joker was using a crowbar against Red Robin. Red was hardly able to get hits in while blocking and avoiding the crowbar. Joker swung his crowbar from the left. Red caught it between his side and his arm, as he gave Joker a hard punch to the face. The crowbar had hit his side pretty hard, but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to. He cuffed Joker and the goons on the floor. There was shaking coming from above, and they could tell Alpha was in a somewhat similar predicament. They were probably dealing with Harley.

* * *

Shade and Wonder Girl were fighting two robots that were made to look similar to Joker, but there were obvious signs that made them different, such as the beady eyes and the metal spikes pointing straight up from their heads. Shade was using his speed and martial arts skills to try and keep his target off balance. Wonder Girl was using her strength to hit the robot she was fighting pretty hard. She slammed it into a wall before ripping its head off. Shade was able to knock down the other robot, before placing a small explosive on its head that blew its head off. The explosion was small enough so that it only affected the robot.

"Hey, Everyone, this is Bumblebee. I think I've found some of the Joker Toxin containers." She said in the mental link.

"Me and Blue Beetle found some too," Martian Girl said.

"Rocket and I have found some too." Swift spoke up.

"Great! It looks like we just have to haul out this junk and then we'll be done on our side." SuperBoy said through the link

It didn't take long for the eight heroes to get rid of the nine containers of Joker Venom. Now they were all waiting to hear back from Alpha and Gamma, to see if they were able to find and apprehend the Joker.

* * *

"Alpha, have you found anything on your end?" Green Lantern asked as he touched his comm.

"Yea, we had a run in with Harley, but we've got it under control now," Dove replied through the comm.

"We've got the Joker on our end. He didn't go down easy, but we got him. We'll meet you guys at the entrance, with Joker in tow,"  
"If you can make it out alive. " Joker said with a small laugh.

"What do you mean?" Green Lantern asked, as he slowly went toward him.

"As soon as I noticed you, I activated some explosives that are set to blow this place sky high with all of us in the building,"

"You psycho, what have you done? How long do we have?"Red Robin aggressively questioned.

"You've got about three minutes,"

Red Robin then checking where Joker had been sitting when they entered and found a countdown with 2:45 left on it and going down.

Green Lantern made a light construct to grab Joker, and one of the goons. Red Robin picked up a goon, and so did Rapid. Rapid went up first, followed by Red. Green Lantern went up last.

"Dove, Alpha, the place is set to blow. We've gotta get out of here"

"Green Lantern, are you sure?"

"Positive, Red Robin confirmed it."

"We'll be out in a moment."

Gamma made it out with 30 seconds left, but Alpha was nowhere to be found. Gamma threw Joker and his goons aside. Feral and Equinox seemed somewhat confused.

"What's going on? The place is about to blow." Rapid said quickly

"What!? Where's the rest of Alpha?" Equinox asked as he feared for his team. There were ten seconds left. Dove and her team came running out.

As Alpha ran outside, Joker ran back in with a mad cackle. Rapid was about to run after him, but Green Lantern was already after him, as he flew past Alpha, running the opposite direction. Everyone was now a safe distance away from the building, looking hopefully to see if Green Lantern would make it out with Joker, or make it out at all.

Red Robin pondered why Green would've gone in there, instead of Rapid or Equinox. He then realized the answer as the building exploded. Gamma and Alpha were torn between shock and disbelief. Suddenly, a green light construct sphere flew out of the building and crashed into the ground a block away. Everyone rushed over to find Green in a sort of crater where he had crashed. He was unconscious. He had cuts which must've been caused by the crash. He was clutching a purple cloth in his left hand. Both the cloth and his hand seemed burned.

An hour later, Green Lantern woke up in the Watchtower infirmary. He slowly opened his eyes. Immediately, he remembered what had happened with Joker. He clenched his fists, and told himself one thing. "I've failed"

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There it is folks, chapter three of A Light in the Dark. This is Riku here with a new chapter. I decided to finish up this mission with this chapter and add a bit of "tragedy", if you could call it that.


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